Everyone seems to be on edge. On the road and in the stores as I experienced.

I recently had to replace my phone and dutifully went to the Verizon store near me and patiently waited my turn for 20 minutes. Once at the counter, shrouded by plexiglass, I strained to listen to a young man with a heavy accent. He detailed my options which I had to get him to repeat parts of it. My questions clearly bothered him. His tone grew increasingly angry. After 15 minutes, we finally we started the transfer process. However, it was taking so long that I left the store, did some shopping and came back.

When I asked how much longer, he had not "hit the button" so it would be another 30 minutes. I said okay and left to bring the perishables home. When I returned 45 minutes later, the transfer was still not finished and, of course, there was another process we had to complete after it was done. I was asking questions and the young man continued to express his frustration and disdain. Clearly, he was tired of answering the same questions I'm sure everyone asks.

I was getting very angry but stopped myself, threw my hands up and said "I only have some questions and would like to finish this process as quickly as possible as I'm sure you do." He nodded but still answered my questions with a negative tone.

Upon leaving the store 10 minutes later, I was angry and frustrated. Although I had a brand new phone in my hand, it was not a good feeling.

It occurred to me that everyone must be having experiences like this.